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document.write('<b><p class="rss_item"><a class="rss_item" href="http://www.thestate.com/2010/09/05/1449976/deck-stacked-against-next-governor.html#RSS=local"  target="feed">Deck stacked against next governor</a></b>');
document.write('<br /><p/>South Carolina&rsquo;s next governor will take office ready to push a voter-approved agenda, but those new ideas could be overshadowed by a billion-dollar budget deficit and an economy still recovering from the Great Recession.</p><p/>The next governor will face a Legislature willing to offer a honeymoon to the new chief executive, but weary of past bickering &ndash; either ideological or partisan.</p><p/>But whether Republican front-runner Nikki Haley, Democratic nominee Vincent Sheheen or Green and United Citizens parties&rsquo; candidate Morgan Bruce Reeves wins in November, they will inherit a much more difficult job than any recent governor in state history.</p><p/>&ldquo;The new governor is going to face a monumental crisis the likes of which this state has not had maybe since the 1930s,&rdquo; said Bob McAlister, a communications advisor who was the chief of staff for the late Gov. Carroll Campbell.</p>');
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document.write('<b><p class="rss_item"><a class="rss_item" href="http://www.thestate.com/2010/09/05/1451625/possible-electrical-fire-guts.html#RSS=local"  target="feed">Possible electrical fire guts Kings Church house</a></b>');
document.write('<br /><p/>A fire of apparent electrical origin destroyed a one-story brick house just north of Leesburg Road on Sunday, doing some $200,000 worth of damage.</p><p/>The fire at 7 Palatine Road started inside the attic while the owner was doing some electrical work on a floodlight just outside the house, said acting Columbia Fire Department chief Aubrey Jenkins.</p><p/>No one was hurt, Jenkins said.</p><p/>The fire in the Kings Church neighborhood started just after the owner cut the power back on, he said.</p>');
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document.write('<b><p class="rss_item"><a class="rss_item" href="http://www.thestate.com/2010/09/05/1449993/longtime-congressman-spratt-in.html#RSS=local"  target="feed">Longtime Congressman Spratt in tough battle</a></b>');
document.write('<br /><p/>In another time and place, in an era devoid of razor-sharp political elbows, Tea Party politics and instant, viral communication, South Carolina Rep. John Spratt might be just another powerful incumbent cruising to easy re-election.</p><p/>But this is no ordinary year, and Spratt is no ordinary politician.</p><p/>The Democrat, the dean of the S.C. delegation with 28 years in Washington, faces the fight of his political life, his district a bellwether of the future tilt and tone of the country. </p><p/>Spratt, a quiet man known for a keen intellect, wry humor and phenomenal mastery of numbers, knows there is a dark mood among voters resonating beyond his 5th Congressional District. It&rsquo;s a palpable anger over the long economic downturn and the loss of jobs, paired with deep skepticism over bank bailouts, federal stimulus spending and health care reform.</p>');
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document.write('<b><p class="rss_item"><a class="rss_item" href="http://www.thestate.com/2010/09/05/1451491/slain-eastover-womans-missing.html#RSS=local"  target="feed">Slain Eastover woman’s missing SUV still sought</a></b>');
document.write('<br />The Richland County released Sunday the South Carolina license tag number of an SUV stolen from a slain 83-year-old Eastover woman late last week. The tag of the 2000 Chevrolet Blazer, burgundy in color, is DRY391, said Richland County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Monique Mack. The body of Evelyn Harvin, who lived alone in her house in the 1100 block of Pond Drive, was found by family late Friday night. Harvin may have been killed on Thursday, but authorities were not able to specify the time of death. Richland County Coroner Gary Watts declined to give details, including what had killed the woman and where her body was found in the house. Mack said investigators hope that someone will see Harvin’s car and call authorities. It is possible that the license tag may have been swapped out.');
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document.write('<b><p class="rss_item"><a class="rss_item" href="http://www.thestate.com/2010/09/05/1450012/polluted-coal-ponds-face-epa-closure.html#RSS=local"  target="feed">Polluted coal ponds face EPA closure threat</a></b>');
document.write('<br /><p/>About 20 power company dump sites, some of which have leaked poisonous coal residue into groundwater, face closure in South Carolina under a federal plan to protect the environment from electric utility waste.</p><p/>South Carolina&rsquo;s coal ash ponds include a pair in lower Richland County that are the source of increasing community complaints. Arsenic has seeped from the SCE&G ponds into groundwater and trickled into the nearby Wateree River just upstream from Congaree National Park.</p><p/>The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plan, to be discussed at a hearing Sept. 14 in Charlotte, faces vigorous opposition from power companies worried about the cost of closing coal waste ponds and its impact on their recycling efforts. The ponds collect coal waste left over from the generation of electricity.</p><p/>But plan supporters say stronger federal rules would protect well water and rivers threatened by arsenic and other toxic materials contained in coal ash. Short-term exposure to arsenic can cause nausea, vomiting and skin disorders, while long-term exposure to some forms of arsenic has been tied to cancer.</p>');
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